


"No, Stop!"

by Cdelphiki



Series: Whumptober 2018 [4]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU, Robin: Son of Batman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Prompt Fic, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Whumptober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16127969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cdelphiki/pseuds/Cdelphiki
Summary: It was an average night of patrol.  Actually, it was a downright quiet night of patrol, and Bruce was enjoying it.  Then Damian got a dose of fear toxin.Whumptober 2018Day 4: "No, stop!"





	"No, Stop!"

* * *

Bruce loved Gotham.  The city was absolutely gorgeous and there was nothing he enjoyed more than patrolling the city with Robin, especially on quiet, slow nights like that night had been.  On those nights he got precious one-on-one time with his son.  The conversations in the batmobile.  On the roof of buildings.  While swinging across the city.  

He loved it.

And patrol that night had been going well.  Robin was even in a upbeat mood.  

It was great.

Until it wasn't.

And isn't that how it always worked?

Out of nowhere, a gas bomb went off in Crime Alley, and the entire city went crazy.Fear toxin, of course.It wasn’t even Halloween.In fact, it was March.

It was unexpected, to say the least.Guards at Arkham Asylum had no idea there had even been a break, and yet there was Scarecrow, wreaking havoc, angering the Red Hood by attacking _his_ territory.Bruce had assigned himself to the case just to ensure everyone made it out of the confrontation alive.

To Bruce’s relief, in all honesty, he and Robin had found Scarecrow first.

That's how he found himself standing in front of Jonathan Crane and about a dozen of his cronies, with Robin by his side.  

“Crane,” Robin drawled in greeting when they finally defeated his guards and saw him face-to-face.

Batman frowned at the child's audacity.  He shouldn't be surprised at this point when Robin mouthed off to the criminals, but it would never not bring a tinge of dread to his stomach.  Damian had never faced Scarecrow before, either, which didn't help his worry.  

“Ah, Robin,” Scarecrow said, grinning widely, “Tell me, boy, what are you afraid of?”

“Tt,” Damian huffed, his voice muffled through the rebreather he was wearing. 

Swallowing down his worry, because honestly, he had no reason to worry about Damian.  The kid was more than capable.  Bruce went in to arrest Crane, allowing the boy to take on the cronies.  

The fight was largely uninteresting.It was more of the same when it came to Jonathan Crane.The man just wanted to gain Batman’s attention, and once Bruce was there, all the theatrics came to an end.

Bruce kept track of Robin in the back of his mind, paying attention to where the boy was at all times, who he was fighting.They had it down to two henchmen and Crane, Robin confronting one of the henchmen and Batman handling the remaining two.It was going well.

Then Robin shouted something incomprehensible.

The sudden expression of fear from his youngest son triggered something deep inside Bruce.It gave him the strength and speed needed to knock out his two adversaries, tying both up in under 10 seconds.

Whirling around, Batman inspected Robin for the cause of his distress, and was slightly confused.

The child appeared fine.He watched as Robin apprehended his last henchmen without issue and stood up straight in his very Damian-like way as he scanned his surroundings. 

Bruce gave the child a quick once-over with his eyes, checking for injuries.

There were none. 

Although that barely meant anything when it came to Damian.The child regularly concealed injuries, something not uncommon for Robins to do, but Damian took it to a whole new level.After the child had concealed a stab wound to his abdomen for six hours one night, Bruce had learned to never rely on a visual inspection of the child. 

“Robin, report,” Batman barked out as he looked around, canvassing the warehouse to confirm that all of Crane’s men were disabled. 

Damian bristled, his face unreadable due to it being covered by the rebreather and mask the child still wore.“I’m fine, Batman,” Damian said evenly. 

Bruce paused, unsure of how to proceed.Why had Damian shouted before? 

He hadn’t even inhaled any fear toxin.As far as Bruce was aware. 

Bruce didn’t have the chance to puzzle over it, because the sound of someone landing softly behind him drew Bruce’s attention away. 

“You couldn’t save me some fun?” Red Hood said, straightening up to his full height as he holstered the gun he’d jumped into the warehouse holding. 

“Hood,” Batman said flatly, “the GCPD is en route to collect Crane.” 

“Oh, I get nice Batman today,” Jason mused, toying with the gun on his thigh holster, “what ever did I do to deserve a heads up about our boys in blue?”

Batman ignored his wayward son and began exploring the area, in search of fear toxin or anything else he didn’t want getting into the hands of the criminal element of Gotham.He didn’t fully trust the GCPD to clean up the crime scene. 

“You’re awfully quiet, brat-wonder,” Jason observed, giving Damian a calculating look. 

With another quick glance at his youngest, Bruce didn’t notice anything unusual about Robin.Aside from his quietness and the unexplained shout, he seemed fine.He was just standing there, observing his surroundings.He was a bit stiff, sure, his shoulders tense and his back rigid, but the boy had never faced Scarecrow before, so it wasn’t too unexpected.The man was a bit… unsettling to look at. 

Bruce shook his head and went back to his search.In the corner, he found a booby trap, set to shoot a dart filled with fear toxin at whoever tripped a wire.It took almost no time to unload the dart gun and disarm the trap.Bruce pocketed the unused dart to keep as a sample of the latest fear toxin formula.It never hurt to make sure their antidotes would continue to work.

“Shit, kid,” Jason swore from behind Bruce, just as he hastily removed his helmet, “you know I ain’t gonna hurt you, right?”

At that, Bruce turned to observe his two sons.Why would Jason need to say that, to Damian of all people? 

Then Bruce saw it.Jason took a step toward Robin, and Robin took a step back, his hands reaching behind him, searching for the wall.

“No, stop!” Damian cried as Jason reached a hand out to grab Robin’s wrist.The teen faltered, letting his hand drop to the side, completely flabbergasted by Damian’s sudden fear.

“Robin,” Batman snapped, trying to gain the boy’s attention, out of patience for Damian’s weird mood, “report.” 

When the child didn’t respond, Bruce quickly crossed the room and approached Damian.To his horror, the boy backed himself further into the corner, fear evident only in the way the child was attempted to appear smaller.Bruce wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Damian act scared.

“Don’t take me,” Damian said toward Jason, the lenses of his mask reflecting his wide eyes at them. 

Without regard to the child’s clear fear of them, Bruce knelt down before his son and started inspecting his rebreather more closely.Clearly, he’d been hit with some fear gas, because this was too out of character for Damian. 

“I’m sorry,” Damian whispered, “I’m sorry, Father.Please… Please don’t-”

“You’re fine, son,” Bruce murmured as he pulled the mask off to inspect the inner workings.As far as he could tell, the device was working properly. 

Jason gently grasped Damian’s arm, turning it over as he visually inspected the child.Bruce left his second son to search his youngest for injury while Bruce began searching for more dart traps. 

_“Father.”_

“Fuck,” Jason swore, startling Bruce back to attention.When he looked over at the teen, he saw Jason pull a dart out of Damian’s back, which had been obscured by his cape.“This is enough to incapacitate you, B-man.” 

Batman reached into his utility belt to pull out an antidote and bring back to the pair, but Jason beat him to it and was already filling a new syringe with a full dose by the time Bruce reached them.The child flinched violently when Jason grabbed his arm and began fighting back.

“No,” he said desperately, thrashing around violently to prevent Jason from getting a good shot at one of his muscles, “no please.I didn’t see it.I’ll try harder.I’ll _be better._ ”

“Dames,” Jason said softly, “Dami, it’s okay.You’re okay.This will make you feel better.” 

“Father, please,” Damian nearly cried as he kept struggling against Jason’s grasp, lashing out violently and eliciting a few muttered swears from the teenager.

“Would you quit it, this is going to help you.” 

“Father,” the boy begged more desperately, “please.I’ll do anything.”Damian gasped as he began hyperventilating. 

“Hey, deep breaths there, kiddo,” Jason consoled as he tried to get the boy under control, “And please stop struggling.”

“I’ll even be nice to Tim,” Damian screamed, “Please don’t send me away.Don’t let Todd take me.”

"I ain't taking you anywhere," Jason said, trying to get a grip on the boy's arm through his thrashing.

Bruce closed his eyes again and rubbed at his cowl.The motion did nothing to comfort him, since his hands were gloved and his face covered in Kevlar. 

“He’ll take me to her,” Damian whispered, “I can’t go back to them.” 

Of course.Of course this was Damian’s fear.His greatest fear was about being sent back to the fucking League of Assassins.Because apparently Bruce Wayne was incapable of assuring his 11-year-old son that the only way the child would return to the league, even voluntarily, would be over his dead body.And knowing his other children, their dead bodies as well. 

"I won't.  I would _never,_ " Jason sputtered, "Damian, come on."

_“Dad.”_

“Shit, Bruce a little help here?” Jason snapped, losing the battle with Damian.

That snapped Bruce out of it, causing him to launch himself forward to help restrain Damian.  “Just stick it in his thigh,” Bruce said, wrapping his arms around the child from behind to hold him still. 

“Please,” Damian said again, tears beginning to seep out from under his mask. 

“Mother,” Damian cried, “Grandfather, I’m sorry,” just as Jason finally got the needle inserted into Damian’s left thigh and injected the antidote.

“They aren’t here, kiddo,” Jason said as he pulled the needle out.Bruce did not let go, fully expecting Damian to begin fighting again.

But then, as if in response to them winning the battle against him, Damian shut his emotions off with a deep breath.

Then he just stood there.Motionless.He did not resist Jason when the teen grabbed for his arm again to check his pulse.Did not flinch.Did not cry. 

Damian did nothing. 

“Let’s get him back to the cave,” Bruce said briskly as he released Damian from his grip.Jason nodded and hoisted the child up into his arms while Bruce collected the rebreather and offending dart from the ground, not wanting their tech or Damian’s DNA readily available to the first taker.

“I fucking hate Ra’s Al Ghul,” Jason spat as he began walking out of the warehouse, “a kid.A fucking kid.” 

Bruce drove them home, Jason sitting in the front seat with Damian in his lap.Normally, Bruce would have been ecstatic about his second son actually coming home, but under the circumstances he couldn’t savor the moment. 

Damian hadn’t come back to himself.After he shut down, he remained that way, not once acknowledging that anyone was even touching him. 

The child had disassociated, and Bruce wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Because, yes, obviously it was the fear toxin that induced the fear, but Damian’s response to fear was troubling. 

“I should have done something,” Jason muttered, shifting Damian’s weight a bit. 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Bruce said tiredly, “I didn’t even notice him getting hit by the dart.” 

“No, I should have gotten him away from Ra’s.” 

Bruce stiffened.Jason never spoke about his time with the League, and he wasn’t sure how to react without ruining everything.So he chose not to respond, and instead kept his focus on driving. 

“Talia kept us separate, though.I saw him once, and he wasn’t aware I was watching, you know?But I knew of him.I didn’t realize- I should have-” Jason wrapped his arms around Damian and rested his head on the child’s. “I’m so sorry Damian.”

“Jason,” Bruce said, reaching out and placing a hand on his son’s shoulder, “you were just a kid.You can’t hold yourself accountable for this.”

“I was Robin.I should have-”

“ _Son_ ,” Bruce cut off, “listen to me.It was not your fault.” 

Jason sighed as he closed his eyes, his cheek still planted in Damian’s messy black locks.“I just wish I could go back in time and save him.”

“You and me both.” 

\---- 

After another dose of antidote and a mild sedative, Bruce carried Damian up to his bed to sleep for the rest of the night.Knowing he wouldn’t sleep that night, Bruce pulled an armchair up next to Damian’s bed and settled down with a cup of tea and his iPad.

Jason came by to visit once to check on the Robin, and to tell Bruce he was heading back to his safe house.Bruce appreciated the curtesy, and set a reminder in his calendar to invite Jason over for dinner soon.He and Damian clearly had some things to talk about.Like how Damian could possibly think Jason would kidnap Damian and deliver him to Talia. 

On that note, Bruce had a lot to discuss with the child as well.He spent the entire night pretending to read the news while he rehearsed exactly what he was going to say to his son.

Damian awoke slowly late in the morning.Lying on his stomach, Damian turned his head so he was looking directly at Bruce, an exhausted expression on his face.“What happened,” he asked, rubbing at his face. 

“You were dosed with fear toxin,” Bruce said, clicking his tablet off and setting it on the bedside table. 

“Ah,” Damian said, nodding slightly, “that explains it.” 

“Do you remember your hallucinations?” Bruce asked, tilting his head. 

The child shrugged and gave Bruce an indifferent expression. 

“Damian,” Bruce began with a frown, then paused to pull his chair closer so he could settle his hand in his son’s hair, “I just want you to know I will never, for any reason, ever return you to your mother or grandfather. 

Bruce ran his fingers through Damian’s dirty locks as the child blinked at him.After a moment, Damian shut his eyes and scrunched his face.Finally, he turned his head back the other way, forcing Bruce to lift his hand for a moment before he resettled it back into his child’s hair. 

He sat there for several long moments, stroking the crown of his son’s head, pretending not to notice the quiet sniffles that escaped from Damian.“How are you feeling?” Bruce finally asked. 

The child rubbed at his face and responded quietly, “I’m fine.” 

“You got an extremely high dose,” Bruce explained, “it took two full doses of antidote to bring you out of panic.You might feet jittery for a day or so.” 

“I didn’t notice the pressure plate,” Damian said, finally turning back to face his father.

“Happens to all of us,” Bruce said, leaning forward to plant a kiss on Damian’s forehead, “I’ll leave you to get ready for the day.See you downstairs for breakfast.”

As Bruce was standing to leave, Damian sat up and latched on to his hand, pulling Bruce back toward him.When the man turned to look back down at his son, Damian hesitated and let go.

But Bruce knew what Damian was wanting. 

He might suck at the emotions thing, but he’d had experience with 11-year-olds coming off fear toxin.He knew the simple comfort Damian was craving. 

So, Bruce sat down on the bed next to his son and pulled him into a hug. 

“I’ve got you, son,” he whispered into his hair, “I won’t let go.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my Beta BrokenHeartedQueen for reading this and giving me the idea to have Damian freak out specifically because Jason was there and had a relationship with his mother. ❤️


End file.
